Tag Archives: Print on demand

Printing quality: Lightning Source, Lulu, or Createspace

Skilled Workman Posted on by

This has been an interesting question for the past decade. There are several things which enter into the equation. The two most important are defects and general quality. Aaron Shephard falls on the side of Createspace in a radical change this morning. He’s always taught that Lightning Source is necessary for quality. Defects are a normal aspect of printing Printing is an amazingly complex manufacturing process. Most people tend to think that on-demand digital printers are much better … Continue reading →

Printing has changed, but it’s certainly not dead…

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I read a good article this morning from My Print Resource talking about the slow slide of offset lithography to a minority process. However, it will still be the largest segment of printing. Many of the new self-publishers are not aware that printing is still a huge industry, and that on-demand printing (like we use) is only a small portion of the industry. It’s interesting that this article still sees the huge growth of inkjet as a … Continue reading →

Lightning Source: the pro’s choice for POD?

Skilled Workman Posted on by

The image is meaningless fill. I received this comment from Michael W. Perry, Inkling Books, Auburn, AL. I’ve been wanting a guest posting on this for a while, so I am appropriating his comments for that purpose. I’ve never dealt with LS. I never have the budget. But it is definitely the pros’ choice. Lightning Source is the print-on-demand supplier for the traditional publishers. Many authors find it very difficult to deal with, but Mike, like me, has … Continue reading →

Book Production Services

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I regularly provide production help to Christian authors, as led by the Spirit. Feel free to contact me. What I want to do below is give you some idea of the options I offer. We can also negotiate custom relationships. Radiqx Press Production Charges Most of my books are done as a whole, so editing, proofing, formatting, exporting for upload are all part of the same process. I normally charge $60/hour for my billable time. To prepare a … Continue reading →

Picking an appropriate size for your book

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Document size [page size] In traditional publishing, there were many more options. This is one reason why traditional publishing costs so much more. Virtually all traditional printing is custom work—to meet the needs of the individual designer & various paper and press sizes. We give up some of that freedom to control costs as we move into on-demand printing. For my purposes here, I am talking about Createspace and Lulu. For the on-demand print publisher, many costs … Continue reading →

Starting at the beginning: Document Setup…

Skilled Workman Posted on by

This is the dialog box which opens when you choose New from the file menu or type Command+N. Many of the choices found in this dialog box are based on your experience. I’ll use my current choices, just so we can talk about the issues involved. The first choice is that I always start with print chosen as my intent. There are many reasons for this. But I can state it simply as I start out. Print … Continue reading →

What is On-Demand publishing?

Skilled Workman Posted on by

The concept of on-demand publishing is simple The printer or distributor stores the book on their hard drive (server farm). It is printed or downloaded only after it is ordered and paid for. So, unless there is a demand, it is not printed or downloaded. Much like just-in-time manufacturing, your book is delivered upon demand. You upload the digital files: They are stored on the servers of the on-demand printer or ebook distributor. They print the document … Continue reading →

Writing books in InDesign

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Here I am again recommending a road less traveled by—not unusual in my life and work. Before the choruses rise up in defense of others, let me tell you my reasonings. I fully recognize that most people write in Word. What they do not realize [in most cases] is this simple fact starts their book under a great handicap. They are missing out on the best tools for communicating with readers. At this point, I have been … Continue reading →